The Chase
by sammyqueen123
Summary: What happens when Rose and Scorpius start dating? It's all up to Albus, isn't it. SLASHEVENTUAL LEMONS   PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!
1. Making A Date

**Chapter One: Making A Date**

Scorpius Malfoy walked into the Great Hall with his best friend. "Hey Al, d'you reckon I could get your cousin?" he asked the taller boy, "Al? Albus? ALBUS POTTER!" The other boy jumped and quickly pushed his glasses further up his freckled nose.

"Sorry Scorp, I was daydreaming," Albus grinned and lightly punched the blonde's shoulder. "What did you ask?"

Scorpius rolled his eyes. "I asked you if you thought I'd have a chance at getting with Rose. Y'know, your favorite cousin?"

"Probably," Albus squinted over to the Gryffindor table and waved at his large family. James, Lily, and Hugo waved back right away. He grinned. This was their custom, the three of them would wait for his wave, then make Rose look up from whatever book she was reading to wave to Albus. He waited patiently and sure enough, there was another quick movement as Rose lifted her head to grin at her favorite cousin.

Scorpius waved sarcastically at James behind Al's back. Everyone knew that Scorpius and the eldest Potter didn't get along. Albus wanted them to become friends, but both rivals knew it would never happen. Scorpius would never miss a chance to taunt Potter, and James would never pass up an opportunity to try and humiliate Scorpius. It was a way of life, and both boys were happy with it.

"Is it just me, or does this term seem like a breeze compared to last year?" Albus asked as he reached for a piece of toast.

Scorpius considered the question as he ate a bite of eggs. "It's not as bad as OWL year, definitely, but it's not like the work has gotten easier. The professors just aren't pushing us as hard now that we've gotten through our OWLs."

Albus nodded, "Maybe I was exaggerating." He took a bite of bacon, chewed slowly, and stuck out his food-covered tongue.

"Gross! Put that thing away!" Scorpius laughed and pushed his friend sideways. Albus pushed back, and soon enough they were in a shoulder war, neither of them noticing the brown-haired 7th year watching them silently from the other end of the Slytherin table.

"Oi! Potter and Malfoy! Quit that, or I'll give you detention!" The brunette boy shouted quickly from down the long table. Albus and Scorpius stopped pushing each other at once.

"Yes, Ryan," they called back in unison, grinning.

Albus reached his head down and whispered in the blonde's ear, "Crisby's so full of it, isn't he?"

Scorpius nodded and quickly shoved his last bite of toast into his mouth. "Well, we'd better be off. We wouldn't want to miss an opportunity to study with your dear cousin in the library, now would we?"

Albus watched as Scorpius picked up his bag and muttered sarcastically to himself, "Of course not, why miss a chance to court Rosie?"

Scorpius glanced at his best friend, "Did you say something?"

Albus shook his head quickly and stood up. "Well? Are we going to the library or not?" Scorpius rolled his eyes at the taller boy and started walking to the doors with Albus right behind him.

Scorpius glanced over his shoulder at his friend and called, "Hurry up, aren't you excited for study time?"

" Thrilled," Albus grumbled as he trailed behind the blonde, "Look, no offense, but you are being obvious beyond belief."

"Only in front of you, silly. When I'm around Rose, I'm a true Slytherin. I hide everything. By the way, could you find out who she likes for me?"

Albus nodded wearily and jogged a few steps to catch up with Scorpius. "So, what's your plan to get my cousin?"

"Oh, that?" Scorpius raised an eyebrow at his friend. "Isn't it obvious?"

The blonde smiled at his friend's blank expression. "The only subject she has trouble with is Potions, right? Well, Potions is my best subject. I'll offer to tutor her. It's the perfect plan. It gets us alone, and in close contact. See my brilliance?"

"Oh, forgive me for ever doubting your plotting abilities," Albus shot back sarcastically.

Scorpius pushed him into the wall and ran off, laughing madly. Albus pushed off the wall and dashed after his friend.

He promptly ran around a corner into Professor Longbottom. "Careful there Albus," his godfather said, "You don't want to hurt someone by accident."

"Of course not Professor," Albus said quickly, "I'm just trying to save Scorp from doing anything more idiotic than usual. I'll see you in Herbology!"

Neville chuckled to himself as he watched the miniature Harry run down the corridor to a patiently waiting miniature Draco. He often wondered how the boys dealt with their families ideas about each other. He supposed that with true friends, other opinions didn't matter. He soon forgot his pondering however, as he returned to Greenhouse 3 and had to rescue a Mandrake from being strangled by a Venomous Tentacula.

-Scorpius and Albus slowly walked into the library and paused, looking around.

"Where d'you reckon she is?" Scorpius muttered out of the side of his mouth as he scanned the cavernous room.

Just as Albus opened his mouth to answer, they heard a voice call out quietly, "Oi! Albus! Malfoy! I'm over here!" They looked in the direction of the voice and saw a pair of brown eyes framed by a book and a mess of frizzy orange hair.

"There's your answer," Albus grinned as they walked over to Rose's table. "Hullo Rosie. Mind if we sit here?"

Rose shook her head and smiled at the pair as they sat down. "You two seemed to be enjoying breakfast. At least, what you didn't knock onto the floor with all that shoving going on." She eyes twinkled as she teased them.

"Oh, hush up Weasley, you're just upset we didn't ask you to join in," Scorpius drawled as he sunk back into the plump chair.

Rose wrinkled her nose, "Because I'd really want to take part in something that would get food all over my robes. And here I thought you knew me…" She sighed dramatically and looked back down at her book.

Scorpius winked at Albus before leaning closer to Rose. "I know you're getting D's in Potions," he whispered into her ear.

She turned to glare at him so quickly he could've sworn her head had Apparated. "How the bloody hell do you know about that?" she hissed.

Scorpius smirked. "I know everything that goes on here, Weasley, just ask Albus." They both looked over at him and he shrugged.

"It's true. He just… finds out about things. I dunno how." Scorpius looked back to Rose and grinned.

"Do you want me to tutor you? Or would it be too degrading for a Gryffindor to accept help from a lowly Slytherin? I happen to be the best in our year at Potions, in case you'd forgotten."

Rose studied him silently for a minute. Then she looked at Albus. Finally, she turned back to the blonde. "Fine," she sighed, "But you aren't going to tell anyone about this. We'll meet in the Room of Requirement tonight. 6 o'clock. If you don't show up by 6:15, I'll leave. I hope we understand each other about this."

Scorpius grinned lazily and waved his hand through the air. "Certainly Miss Weasley, certainly."

"Good," she snapped before she began reading again. Albus and Scorpius looked at each other quickly and exchanged a small smile, before they opened their bags and pulled out their Transfiguration essays on Vanishing.

Half an hour later, Albus rolled up his parchment and stretched his arms.

"Done already?" Scorpius stared at him in amazement.

Albus shrugged and replied, "It's my best subject. It's really quite easy when you understand it."

"Well, seeing as you and Weasley here are the only ones that do understand, would either of you care to assist me in my writing?" Scorpius smiled sweetly at them.

Albus and Rose exchanged a glance before looking back at Scorpius. "No," they replied at the same time, before bursting out into quiet laughter. Scorpius grumbled quietly and flipped open his textbook to the chapter on Vanishing spells. The bell rang as soon as he dipped his quill into his his ink.

Scorpius fumed silently as Rose and Albus laughed at his half-finished essay. He shoved his books and essay into his bag and stood up. "Are you two going to come to class, or sit there all day like a pair of lumps?"

"Morons," Scorpius thought to himself as he watched them slowly collect their things. They finally stood up and gestured toward the door. Rose walked faster than the two Slytherins, probably the only person alive who was ever excited to go to History of Magic. Albus and Scorpius slowed down until the bushy-haired girl was out of ear-shot.

"That went well, don't you think?" Scorpius said quietly to his friend.

Albus nodded. "Except for the bit where you got angry," he replied, grinning.

Scorpius shoved him and jogged a few steps to get ahead of him. "Let's hurry up, we don't want poor old Binns to miss his favorite students, do we?"

Albus grinned and caught up to his friend so they could begin to plan a new way to disrupt the ghost teacher's class.


	2. The Lesson

Scorpius and Rose walked out of Divination together. It was the only class that they had together without Albus, who had received a D on his OWL.

Today, Professor Brown had the class read their partner's palm. Rose had been completely boggled by Scorpius' love line, and had called Brown over to look at it. She told him that the line split in two. One line seemed to point towards his ring finger, and another led to the artery back up to his heart. She couldn't make sense of it, even after examining his palm for the rest of class.

Rose's hand was completely normal, of course. She didn't have any freaky love line going on. Scorpius had secretly relished being able to hold her hand, and thought he caught a blush spreading over her freckled cheeks as he gazed at her palm.

Now, however, all thoughts of Scorpius' strange palm were abandoned as their grumbling stomachs led them to the Great Hall. They didn't talk much as they walked, other than to discuss what they were going to eat first.

Scorpius paused outside the Hall and whispered, "I'll see you at 6," before walking over to join Albus at the Slytherin table.

"Hey Al," he said as he sat down next to his friend. Albus nodded and swallowed his food.

"How was Divination?"

Scorpius shrugged, "I have a crazy love line. Brown said she'd never seen anything like it."

"I already knew you were a freak of nature Scorp. This is conclusive evidence!"

Scorpius grinned and grabbed an apple from a platter. "So," he began, "I have a date with your favorite cousin soon."

"A _study_ date," Albus corrected him, "And I'd like to take this opportunity to remind you that if you break her heart, you'll have seven people to answer to, not to mention her parents and mine."

"Yeah, but that would require me to win her heart first. Speaking of which, I ought to get going, I'd hate to be late to our date. I'll see you later!" Scorpius slung his bag over his shoulder and walked out of the Great Hall without a backwards glance.

He arrived on the seventh floor landing, panting, at 6:05. He gaped at Rose as he panted. He couldn't believe that she'd gotten here faster than he had, even though she had still be eating when he left the Hall. "How the bloody hell did you get here so fast?"

She grinned, "I have my ways. I'm a direct descendent of many wonderful troublemakers, remember?"

"Right, let's go in then," Scorpius said quickly, deciding not to pursue the topic. He turned towards the wall and closed his eyes. When he opened them, a small wooden door had appeared, and Rose was moving to open it.

"It's _perfect_," she whispered before walking inside.

Scorpius smiled as he walked in to see Rose examining the long shelves full of Potion books and the large ingredient cupboards. He sat down at the large table in the middle of the room and waited for her to finish exploring the fully equipped Potions room.

She finally turned around and beamed at the blonde before walking to the table and sitting next to him.

"Alright Weasley, where do you want to start?"

"I have a first name, you know. You can call me Rose. And to be perfectly honest, I have no clue what to do in here, with any of this. Besides the books, obviously."

Scorpius sighed, "Honestly, Weasl- Rose," he corrected himself quickly, "I don't understand how you can be top of the class in everything, but be failing Potions. All you need to do is follow the directions and add the right ingredients at the right time. It's not that hard, really…"

"Well, we can't all be perfect, can we Malfoy?" she snapped.

"Oho," he sniggered, "Back to a last-name basis, are we? Fine then Weasley, have it your way. I'll leave, and you can fail Potions with your pride intact." He made to stand up and she grabbed his sleeve. He looked down at the top of her bushy head with his eyebrows raised.

"Don't leave," she whispered, "Please. I need your help." She looked up at him with an apology in her warm brown eyes, and Scorpius almost kissed her right then and there.

_No Scorp, don't mess it up yet. She wants you to stay, be happy with that you bloody fool! _He closed his eyes to block the image of her perfect face and slowly sat back down next to her.

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Rose finally opened her mouth to speak.

"I'm sorry I snapped at you."

Scorpius turned his head to respond and froze as he stared into her eyes, which were an inch away from his.

"I-I," he cleared his throat, "It's fine."

_Damn it. I can't resist. _He swallowed nervously and whispered, "Can I kiss you?"

Her surprise was obvious, and Scorpius had already started to apologize when she nodded yes.

He took a deep breath and placed a hand on her shoulder. He leaned forward and closed his eyes as their lips touched. _Why didn't I do this before? _This certainly wasn't his first kiss, but it was, so far, the best. Her lips were just so damn soft.

Rose was the one to end the kiss. She pulled away and smiled gently at him. He grinned back, and pulled her into a hug.

"Damn! It's almost 8:00! We've got to get back to our Houses soon!" Scorpius glanced at the small clock on the wall and started to pack away the ingredients they had used to create a Draught of Living Death.

Rose stood up to put away the books and quickly washed her hands in the sink that had appeared in the corner of the room.

"Thank you," she said quietly before they stepped out of the room.

"Not at all, Miss Weasley," Scorpius grinned and kissed her once more before turning around and jogging towards the stairs.

Rose Weasley stood in that exact spot for another ten minutes, staring at the wall. She traced her fingertips over her lips as she realized that her first kiss, and maybe even her first _love_ was Scorpius Malfoy. _Oh no… What will Mum and Dad say?_


	3. Meeting Mr Malfoy

"Alright Rosie, are you ready?" Scorpius asked as he took her hand.

She looked nervously from him to Albus on her other side. "What are we doing?" It had been a week since she and Scorpius had shared their kiss in the Room of Requirement. The whole school knew about them now, and after James stopped trying to curse Scorpius, it had been working out.

She was a bit nervous now. Scorpius and Albus had somehow gotten into the Gryffindor Common Room, and waited for her to come down from her dorm. She had been apprehensive when they'd walked her out of the Great Hall after breakfast, and now she was downright terrified.

"Going to visit my father, of course," came Scorpius' reply before he started to lead her to the dungeons.

"W-What is Al doing? Is he coming too?" she squeaked as she looked at her silent cousin.

He shook his head. "I'm here to make sure none of the other Slytherins try to mess with you."

Rose gulped. Where Slytherins really that bad? These two weren't, but she hadn't really interacted with any others. _Who knows what they could be like?_

The two boys finally stopped in front of a stone wall. She looked questioningly between them, but Albus just said the words, "Frigis Lacum," and an opening appeared in the stone. Rose blinked in amazement as Scorpius led her through the opening, with Albus right on her heels.

"Well well," Ryan Crisby drawled from across the Common Room, "Looks like Potter and Malfoy brought a little Gryffindor down into the dark, cold, Slytherin dungeons." His eyes narrowed as Scorpius squeezed Rose's hand reassuringly. "Come now Malfoy, you should be ashamed. What would your father think?"

Albus replied before the blonde could even open his mouth. "We're down here so they can Floo back to Malfoy Manor. They'll find out what Mr. Malfoy thinks when they get back. We sincerely appreciate your concern though, Crisby," he said sarcastically.

Scorpius and Rose beamed at Albus before walking over to the blazing fire, "We'll see you all later then!" Scorpius called out as he took a handful of light green powder from a small ornate bowl on the mantle. He threw the powder into the blazing flames, which turned into a deep emerald color in an instant.

"Malfoy Manor," he said as he pulled Rose into the flames with him. The entire Common Room watched silently as they vanished. Albus strode from his position by the doorway to an empty chair by the hearth and sat down to wait for his friends to get back.

Draco Malfoy looked up from his newspaper as the empty fireplace burst into green flames. He folded up his _Daily Prophet_ and laid it on the kitchen table before standing up to welcome his mystery guests. His jaw dropped as his son stepped out of the flames, holding hands with none other than the daughter of Weasley and Granger.

"Scorpius," he snapped to hide his astonishment, "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in class? And who is this?" His eyes flicked down to their linked hands again.

"Hello Father," Scorpius said slowly, "I wanted you to meet Rose Weasley, my girlfriend."

Draco's pale grey eyes scanned Rose's face quickly. She had Weasley's freckles and bright hair, he noted, but she'd gotten that wild frizzy mess of hair from Granger. He narrowed his eyes in distaste as he saw the red and gold stripes on her tie. He flicked his eyes back up to her face and found her brown eyes boring into his. She even had Granger's eyes.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Weasley," he nodded at her, finding it difficult to look away from those warm brown eyes. _No, Draco. Stop it. Granger is a thing of the past. You have Astoria now._

Rose replied sweetly, "It's wonderful to finally meet you, Mr. Malfoy. Now I can form my own opinions without my Dad-" She clamped her mouth shut and blushed as she realized what she had said.

"It's quite alright," Draco waved it away, "I'm sure I've told Scorpius here many things about your parents as well as Mr. Potter. It hasn't stopped him yet, has it? I'm glad that you decided to give me a chance, despite what you may have heard."

Rose nodded, unsure of what to say next.

Scorpius broke the silence with a soft cough. "Thank you Father."

"For what?" Draco asked, surprised.

"For… accepting Rose. And allowing me to be my own person."

Draco smirked, "Now what kind of father would I be if I made your choices for you?" He turned his pale eyes to Rose, "You look a lot like your mother. Keep my son out of trouble, will you? I believe that's what your mother's job was supposed to be for your father and uncle."

Rose nodded and chanced a quick smile at the blonde man. _Scorpius looks just like him_, she thought, _Funny, isn't it, that the three of us are all miniatures of our parents, with little hints of the other parent thrown in? Albus looks just like Uncle Harry, but with the Weasley freckles, I look like Mum with Dad's hair color, and Scorpius certainly didn't get his short frame from his dad._

Scorpius cleared his throat, bringing her back to the present. "Sorry, I was daydreaming," she blushed.

"I asked if you were ready to go back," Scorpius raised his eyebrows at her, indicating that he was done.

"Sure," she looked at Draco, "It was a pleasure to meet you, sir."

"And you, Miss Weasley," Draco inclined his head towards her before striding over to a cabinet and taking out a container filled with Floo powder. "Would you please send your parents my best?"

"Of course sir," she said as Scorpius took a handful of powder and stepped into the fireplace.

"See you, Father," Scorpius said once Rose had joined him in the fireplace, "Slytherin Common Room!" he yelled as he threw the powder down and emerald flames leapt up to take them back to Hogwarts.


	4. The First Fight

Albus looked into the fireplace and sighed. _What's taking them so damn lo-_ His thoughts paused as the flames turned green and two figures stepped out onto the rug.

Rose immediately began to beat the soot off her skirt. Scorpius brushed his hands over his white shirt once and stepped over to Albus.

"Everything went fine with us," he muttered, "How were things here?"

"You mean other than Crisby not moving his eyes from the fireplace except to glare at me? Brilliant."

Scorpius glanced at Crisby, who appeared to be completely absorbed in a game of chess with Darren Dane. "He isn't paying much attention now."

Albus nodded, and Scorpius felt a pair of arms encircle his waist. The blonde turned around to face Rose and gently lifted her chin.

"You alright?" he asked.

Yes," she nodded, "You?"

"Never better," he smirked before leaning down to kiss her soft lips. The Common Room erupted into a mix of cheers, laughs, and sounds of disgust. When they separated, Rose with blushing to the roots of her hair. Albus shot them a look that said plainly, "Not in front of me."

Scorpius put an arm over Rose's shoulders and beckoned for Albus to follow them, when Ryan Crisby called out to Rose.

"Oi, Weasley, why did you do that? Did Malfoy's daddy tell you to stay away from his precious little boy?" Crisby smirked as Darren let out a small laugh from beside him.

Scorpius growled softly, but Rose pressed a finger to his lips before turning to Crisby with her hands on her hips.

"First of all, Mr. Malfoy was perfectly fine with his son dating a Weasley. Secondly, how do you know who I am?"

"Really?" Potter and Malfoy didn't tell you? Slytherin had a competition last year, for prettiest girl at Hogwarts. You were a close second."

Rose turned back to the two boys with narrowed eyes.

"I didn't vote!" they said hastily in unison.

"Right, sure you didn't," Rose muttered before looking back at Crisby, "And who did you vote for, hm?"

"You, of course. I think it's the hair that does it for me," He stood and walked over to her, "Yeah, definitely the hair." And he reached out to take a lock of it between his fingers.

At this point, Albus was struggling to keep Scorpius from cursing Crisby into next week. "That bastard," Scorpius hissed, "He's flirting with her!"

"She's flirting back," Albus replied tonelessly as he saw a light blush spread over Rose's cheeks.

Shock settled across Scorpius' pale face, quickly replaced by anger. He wrenched his arms out of his friend's grip and stormed out of the Common Room. Albus shot a glare at Crisby before following the blonde.

Scorpius was positively fuming. He walked back and forth in front of the concealed entrance, his hands curled into tight fists. Albus slid down the wall and watched his friend pace. After a few more minutes, Scorpius shot a dirty look at the blank wall and sat next to Albus.

"I can't believe she hasn't noticed that we're gone yet," he hissed, "You'd think someone as smart as her would be able to keep track of us, honestly!"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than the wall moved to reveal Rose. She stepped out and looked at the two boys sitting against the wall, her face blank and unreadable. But when she spoke, both boys wanted nothing more than to run to the nearest broom cupboard and lock themselves in.

"You two left me alone, in a crowd of Slytherins!" she spit out with venom.

Scorpius' silver eyes flashed angrily. "I'm sure Crisby could've protected you!"

"Why the hell would he do something like that?" Rose asked, taken aback.

"Oh, open your eyes Rose, he obviously likes you!" Scorpius said as he got to his feet. "He was flirting with you, and you flirted right back!"

"You need to grow up! I'm allowed to talk to other boys Scorpius, you can't tell me what to do! I didn't realize that I was dating such an insecure jealous prick!" And with that, Rose turned on her heel and stalked out of the dungeons.

Scorpius muttered curses under his breath as he walked her walk away.

"Scorp," Albus spoke up for the first time since Rose came out, "You need to calm down."

"I can't calm down! My girlfriend is being a stupid bloody Gryffindor and flirting with every good-looking bloke she sets her eyes on!" Scorpius sat down next to Albus with a grumble.

"You think Crisby is good-looking?" Albus asked quietly, looking straight ahead.

Scorpius glanced at him quickly, "I am allowed to notice when a guy could be considered attractive, aren't I?"

"Yeah, I suppose so," Albus muttered to himself, "Hey, Scorp, would girls find me attractive?"

"Hm?" Scorpius ran his eyes over his friend's face. "Yeah. I mean, your eyes are a perfect sample of Slytherin green, your hair always looks tussled, which a lot of girls like, and your smile always seems really warm and happy."

Albus turned his head away and uttered a quick thank you.

"Right, my turn," Scorpius poked Albus in the arm.

Albus looked at him and raised his eyebrows questioningly.

Scorpius rolled his eyes. "I rated you, moron, now you rate me."

Albus looked Scorpius over once before responding. "Well… Your eyes are always readable, and that makes you seem open and honest. Your hair is long, but not too long, so that's good. Your shortness is, well… I-I mean, it makes you seen less intimidating."

"What d'you mean 'less intimidating'? Scorpius asked indignantly, "How the hell am I intimidating?"

"Well, there's the fact that you're a Malfoy, your tendency to stereo the Houses, your haughtiness, and that vicious temper we just had a nice display of," Albus listed thoughtfully.

"But… you weren't intimidated, were you Al?"

"Well, the first time I talked to you was during the Sorting, remember? You looked so terrified. I didn't see any pride or anger, I just saw a kid who looked as scared as I felt. So I talked to you."

"Aw, so sweet of you," teased the blonde, "I must really be irresistible if the son of famous Harry Potter would befriend such a filthy little Malfoy."

"You aren't a filthy little Malfoy," Albus said quietly, "And anyone who says so will have me to answer to."

Scorpius turned his head questioning towards Albus, whose emerald eyes were blank and unreadable. "Are you feeling alright Al? Is not like you to make threats."

"I- Never mind." Albus shook his head.

"No, tell me. I want to help."

The dark-haired boy laughed bitterly, "You can't help."

"Yes, I can!" Scorpius protested, "I can help!"

Albus placed a hand on the blonde's shoulder and met those worried silver eyes with his own green ones. "Scorp… You're the problem."

Before Scorpius could even register what his friend had said, Albus' lips pressed against his own. Time seemed to stop. Scorpius' mind had one single thought running through it: _My best friend is in love with me._


	5. The Aftermath

After what seemed like an eternity, Albus pulled away. Scorpius noted through his shock the pain in his friend's usually unreadable eyes.

"I'm sorry… I've ruined everything…" Albus whispered as he scrambled to his feet. He shot a frightened look at the hidden door before running down the passage and out of sight.

Scorpius was still frozen, staring down the corridor when Rose returned.

"And another thing Scorpius, you can't…" she paused and took in his state of shock. "Scorpius?" Rose rushed to his side and knelt in front of before asking again, "Scorpius, love, what happened?"

He slowly lifted his silver eyes to meet her brown ones, but didn't respond.

"Please answer me," she begged, "Tell me! I can help!"

It was these words that got a reaction: Scorpius lightly brushed his fingers over his lips, looking at Rose in horror.

"Did you and Al have a fight or something? I saw him running toward the Hufflepuff basement."

"He kissed me…" Scorpius whispered hoarsely.

"WHAT?"

"I – You – Albus – He- What?" Rosie sputtered.

Scorpius stared at her, his eyes filled with confusion and some emotion that Rose couldn't quite read. He wiped his lips with the back of his hand.

"We – You – I…" Rose took a deep breath, "We need to talk to him, maybe this was just some misunderstanding or something. He could've been Confunded or Imperiused or anything, right?"

Scorpius nodded quickly, then slowly shook his head. "Could you-" he cleared his throat, "Could you talk to him first? Please?"

"Of course. Go up to your dorm, I'll go find Albus." Rose helped Scorpius up and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before running off.

Scorpius uttered the password and stumbled through the Common Room, ignoring the catcalls and jeers coming from Crisby and Dane. He was dimly aware of taking off his shirt before climbing into his bed, but he fell asleep almost instantly, his dream alternating between his happy memories of Albus and _the kiss_.

Meanwhile, Rose had managed to find Albus, who was trying to remember how to get into the Hufflepuff Common Room. He protested somewhat as Rose pulled him away and into an alcove.

"Shut up Albus," she hissed, "What did you do?"

He swallowed nervously, "I don't know what you're talking ab-"

_SMACK_

Albus's eyes widened as he touched his reddened cheek gingerly.

"You kissed my boyfriend Albus, how could you?" I'll have you know that he's probably curled in a ball on his bed right now, completely traumatized. He could barely even talk to me! I cannot believe you! To me! To me, of all people! He's my boyfriend Al, mine! You have no bloody right to even talk to him after this!"

"It's not up to you what Scorpius does, or what I do," Albus snapped, "And he's stronger than you think he is. I've known him for six whole years Rosie, how about you? You barely know anything about him at all!

Rose fliched. "I – I don't care. I do know him now, and I care about him, I care about him more that you know. I love him Albus, don't ruin this for me," she whispered, "So stay away from him."

"You can't tell me what to do, he's my best mate-"

"And secret love," she snapped. "Just leave him alone."

Albus took a step back. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He hadn't thought, and had probably ruined his friendship with Scorp beyond repair, but Rose… How could she do this to him? How could she be choosing her boyfriend of a _week_ over her cousin, her best friend since they were babies? Albus knew he could find a way to cope with losing Scorpius, after all, he'd hidden his true feelings for three years. Rose, on the other hand… there was no way Albus could deal with her hating him. _I have to fix this somehow…_ His emerald eyes filled with tears and he blinked quickly to hold them in. "Rose," he said hoarsely, "I need to talk to Scorp…"

Rose started at the sight of her cousin's tears. "Al…" she sighed, "Let me talk to him first, okay?" And when Albus nodded his agreement, Rose took his hand and led the way back to the dungeons.

Scorpius woke with a start and scanned the room apprehensively, but he was alone. He breathed a sigh of relief and lay his head back onto his pillow. _Did that really happen? Or was it just a bad dream? I never would have guessed that Al would be… I mean, how could I have not noticed? Six years we've been best mates, six years. One would imagine that I pick up on it._ He slowly raised a pale hand to his lips and sighed. _What am I going to do? I'm not angry with him… Am I?_ He groaned and rolled onto his side, staring at the door. _Father certainly never prepared me for this type of thing…_ His silver eyes closed and hi drifted back into an uneasy sleep.

Rose and Albus walked quickly through the Slytherin Common Room, both their faces void of emotion. When they reached the sixth year boys dorm, Rose put a hand on her cousin's arm. "Wait here," she whispered before opening the door and quietly entering the room, shutting the door behind her. Albus closed his eyes and allowed a single tear runs down his cheek as he leaned against the wall.

"Scorpius? Are you awake?" Rose whispered at the blonde hair peeking out from under a dark green sheet.

His eyes flew open and he sat up. "Rosie, what are you doing in here?"

She slowly sat on the edge of his bed. "I – I talked to Al," she stammered, meeting his eyes. "He's waiting outside to talk to you." _Although I wouldn't be surprised if you never want to see him again_, she added silently. To her surprise, Scorpius rubbed the back of his neck and smiled ruefully.

"Is he angry with me?"

_That was unexpected._ "No, he's just… He's worried about you."

"Could you go get him for me?" Scorpius asked quietly.

Rose stood up and quickly left the room. "Hey Al… He isn't angry… He wants to talk."

Albus leaned forward, looking apprehensive, "Can I talk to him alone? No, I'm not going to do anything!" he added hastily upon seeing Rose's expression.

"Fine," she replied coldly after a moment's thought, "But the door stays open."

Albus sighed but gave in. He knew there would be no point in arguing. Rose stepped aside to allow him into his dorm, and he was struck by the irony of the situation. A Gryffindor was giving him permission to enter his own dorm, and setting the terms for his time there. And he was okay with it. He almost laughed, but the reality of what he was about to do quickly erased the humor from his mind. Taking a deep breath, Albus pushed the door open and stepped into his dorm.


End file.
